Physical and verbal abuse of elderly residents while at nursing homes or is undoubtedly common. Each year reports of these horrific incidents are forwarded to officials to forcing them to take a more in-depth look at their staffs behavior. Unfortunately these notions fall upon death ears resulting in the unresolved danger of patients who can not defend themselves.
According to News 5 Cleavland; #Ohio resident Steve Piskor is currently advocating for legislation to take action upon protecting the elderly. Sources have confirmed that Piskor knows the dangers that elderly patients endure by staff members all to well. His late mother Esther Piskor was a victim of neglect and abuse by a caregiver.
Reports read that Piskor expected that his mother was being harmed and took the necessary precautions to have the issue addressed. Unfortunately he was ignored and belittled upon various attempts. That’s when he decided to take matters into his own hands and was shocked by his findings.
“It’s like on an assembly line. You know, you’re going from one to the other to the other,” Piskor states. “And you’re doing the same things instead of treating them with dignity and respect. They’d ask for something and they’d say, ‘Oh you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ So I mean they just treated them as not people anymore.”
It has been indicated that Piskor placed a small surveillance camera inside his mother’s room to capture any form of abuse. He goes on to describe his findings after reviewing the footage. He says that the giver abused his mother tremendously; “She grabs her by the back of the head and she’s screaming in her face, and then she plops her on the chair and then jabs her in the face.”
Reports read that the proposed bill would be named Esther’s Law which will allow Ohio residents to place surveillance cameras into their loved ones rooms as they stay within a nursing home facility.
State Representative Juanita Brent of District 12 says she agrees with the importance of protecting the elderly.
“We have cameras that are inside of daycares that give surveillance to our children,” Brent says. “So why not have the same type of security for our loved ones who are in senior care?”
“It’s just an extra set of eyes for all of our family members who are really in their most vulnerable state.”
The only possible issue is the act of insuring privacy for each resident. It has been indicated that If the bill does become a law, nursing home residents or their power of attorney will have to agree to the surveillance camera being placed within room first.